AWS gives contact centre suite a genAI makeover in shift towards agentic AI

Amazon Web Services has overhauled Amazon Connect, adding new generative AI features to the contact centre software suite.

AWS announced last week that it had added extra self-service features to Connect’s genAI-powered customer services assistant, known as Amazon Q in Connect.

Companies can now use Q in Connect to bring self-service options to their voice and chat customer service channels. In particular, they can use its genAI to analyse the content of a customer’s query, interrogate company policies and customer data to craft a response, and then take appropriate action if required – offering a refund or processing a new order, for example. This moves into the real of what many are calling agentic AI.

If the conversation needs a human agent, Q in Connect can pass on a summary of its interaction with the customer so far to someone who can continue working on the customer’s query.  

The update also brings “customisable AI guardrails” to self-service conversations in Connect, putting in extra safeguards for customer interactions where AI is responding to queries without direct human oversight.

For example, companies can make certain topics off-limits for self-service discussions; redact information that could affect customers’ privacy; or verify responses are appropriate to customers’ questions through the use of grounding checks.

Smart recommendations from AI

AWS has also brought genAI-based automated segmentation to Amazon Connect, offering “smart recommendations” on how to contact customers based on their current and past interactions. 

For example, a travel company could use the feature to find frequent-flyer passengers whose flights have been delayed and automatically offer them priority rebooking or personalised compensation, AWS said.

Amazon Connect has also brought automation to the process of monitoring how well human agents are doing. The contact centre software now enables companies to automate the process of completing performance evaluations for agents and, according to AWS, can “identify specific coaching opportunities” for staff. 

AWS says that over 10 million customer interactions for tens of thousands of customers are handled through Amazon Connect each week. 

AWS re-Invent and Midea

The company announced the update to Amazon Connect at its AWS re:Invent conference in Las Vegas earlier this month. 

AWS also used the event to announce that home appliance company Midea is now using Connect for its contact centres across 14 countries and regions. According to AWS, the move to Amazon Connect has cut Midea’s contact centre operating costs by 30%. 

Gavin Wu, head of global supply chain and service of Midea, said using Connect means “we’ve not only modernised our global call centres but also significantly boosted service productivity and elevated user experiences”. He added that the company hopes to increase its use of generative AI for customer services in future. 

Midea is using AWS’ genAI features including Connect Lex, Q and Contact Lens, AWS said at re-Invent, as well as deploying its AI features to monitor the performance of its customer services agents and recommend “necessary adjustments”.

As a result, around 95% of Midea’s customers will speak to an agent within one minute of calling the company, according to AWS. 

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